Corgenix touts record numbers, China deal

BROOMFIELD – Medical diagnostic test company Corgenix Medical Corp. posted record revenue and profit for the quarter ended Sept. 30, a day after receiving approval to sell its AspirinWorks test kit in China.

Revenue for Broomfield-based Corgenix (OTC BB: CONX.OB) increased 29.5 percent for the quarter to a record $2.82 million from $2.18 million in the same period of 2011. Most of the growth was in contract manufacturing (up 291 percent), liver disease (up 37 percent, coagulation (up 32 percent) and AspirinWorks (up 19 percent), according to a press statement. North American revenues increased 30.4 percent and international revenues increased 24.1 percent, the company said.

Total gross profit for the quarter increased 14.8 percent to a record $1.20 million from $1.05 million in the previous year. Operating expenses declined by 4.2 percent from the same quarter of 2011, while interest expense decreased 89.4 percent to $6,000 in the current quarter from $60,000 in the prior year. Operating income increased to $205,000 for the quarter from $6,000 in the same quarter of 2011.

The report was issued a day after Corgenix announced that it received approval from China’s State Food and Drug Administration to begin selling its AspirinWorks diagnostic test there.

“Securing SFDA approval in China for diagnostic products is an extensive process, and in some ways more rigorous than securing clearance in the U.S.,” said Douglass Simpson, president and chief executive of Corgenix, in the statement. “As part of Corgenix’ corporate strategy to expand our global presence with our proprietary products and technologies, establishing this presence in China is a major accomplishment, providing us ready access to a very large and growing market.”

In conjunction with its international distribution partner, The ELITech Group, Corgenix will begin selling the AspirinWorks product through Beijing Ningjiang Technology and Trade Co., Ltd., a medical device distribution company.

“We expect that this agreement will boost our revenues by an additional 3 to 5 percent this fiscalyear,” Simpson said in the statement. “That would be an outstanding accomplishment for first-year product sales goals, and we foresee potentially much greater levels over the next few years. There is tremendous growth potential in China, and Corgenix is prepared to serve the upcoming explosive demand for this testing.”

AspirinWorks is the only U.S. FDA-cleared test that measures the urinary biomarker 11-dehydrothromboxane B2 to determine aspirin’s effect in apparently healthy individuals. The test targets apotential global market exceeding 200 million people. Unlike functional platelet tests, which require freshly drawn blood that must be evaluated within at least four hours, the AspirinWorks test is performed on a random urine sample that can be obtained in any doctor’s office or clinic.

AspirinWorks accounted for 16.2 percent of Corgenix’s overall sales in 2012, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.